Thai shoppers in the top for Most Purchases during Mega Sales Days

Mega Sales Days (MSDs) have quickly become an essential part of the holiday shopping season in Asia Pacific (Apac) and Thailand. Thanks to the explosive surge of e-commerce across the region, these sales events have rapidly expanded to include recurring holiday and monthly sales days, such as 9.9, 10.10, and 11.11, as well as the year-end shopping season.

At present, the Apac region is the world's leader in MSD shopper participation, sitting at a participation rate of 83% compared to the global rate of 69%. Thailand stands at the very top of the region with a staggering participation rate of 91%, making Thai MSD shoppers no.3 in Apac (after Indonesia and Malaysia) with around 78% of Thai holiday shoppers being driven to participate in MSDs by special prices and discounts.

In preparation for the Mega Sales Season this year, Meta’s Business Marketing Research and Intelligence team conducted a global study across 31 markets, which included 14,000 shoppers over the age of 18 from across 12 Apac markets*. The study revealed several insights, including how social media is key to driving discovery commerce, with Meta platforms alone contributing to 76% of purchases in Thailand.

The study outlines three key holiday/MSD consumer shopping insights in Thailand that can help businesses and e-commerce platforms maximize growth during this period:

Insight 1: MSDs help shoppers spend and maximize savings despite economic uncertainty

The study reveals that Apac shoppers eagerly anticipate MSD shopping events even despite ongoing caution around economic uncertainty. In response to global price increases and inflation, Apac shoppers are planning their shopping earlier to maximize deals and offset inflation concerns, with 45% of holiday shoppers saying that they now wait for discount offers and sales to purchase specific items they need. 

Likewise, Thai shoppers are still spending despite changes in financial security. While 65% of year-end shoppers agree that personal and household finances are less secure than last year, more than 1 in 3 of year-end shoppers say they are spending more during the year-end shopping season when compared to the year before. They also use online channels, like Meta platforms, search engines, and e-commerce websites, to plan out their purchases in order to get the most from MSD deals. 

During the study’s surveys, it was found that 97% of Thai holiday shoppers were likely to try new brands during the holiday season. The top five categories in Thailand for product purchases and brand switching this year are food (53%), electronics (46%), apparel/fashion (44%), health and beauty (37%), and travel/vacation (33%).

A further 54% of Thai shoppers also revealed that they deliberately make purchases from cross-border businesses for items that are cheaper while 45% do so for brands or products that are unavailable locally.

Insight 2: Meta’s platforms are the leading space for discovery commerce

As the role of Mega Sales Days continues to grow, it presents an opportunity for businesses to tap into peak seasonal moments to drive sales and has become critical in meeting customers where they are and responding to their increasingly high standards when it comes to special deals.  

While in-store and online are still the top channels for holiday shopping, 66% of Apac shoppers and 76% of Thai shoppers revealed that they made product and commerce discovery through Meta’s platforms, ahead of e-commerce websites, online searches, and offline media. In addition, 45% of Apac shoppers agreed that products discovered on Meta platforms were more relevant to them compared to other platforms and 57% revealed that they discovered new products and brands through videos. This trend is also consistent across different generations in Thailand, with 61% of Gen Z and Millennial shoppers and 42% of Gen Y shoppers discovering products through short- and long-form videos.

With advancements in AI technology working at scale, MSD shoppers, especially Gen Zs, are making their most relevant discoveries across Meta technologies, with 65% of all holiday shoppers and 81% of Gen Z holiday shoppers discovering relevant products and services at least monthly via Meta platforms. 

Creators are also having a significant impact on product awareness, consideration, and purchase. Almost 90% of Meta’s users are currently following creators or public figures, with 1 in 3 discovering new brands and products through them. Thai shoppers in particular have strong relationships with creators, with 61% revealing that their purchase decisions were influenced by a creator they follow, the highest in the APAC region. Creators today are helping to make brands and products feel more personalized and relevant to audiences, as shown by 65% of Thai shoppers looking for creators' and influencers’ recommendations to help their holiday shopping.

Insight 3: Strategic targeting of segments can improve personalization and engagement

Personalization has been proven to greatly improve customer engagement. But who are the individuals that businesses are communicating with during Thailand’s Mega Sales season? Meta’s latest study identified the following four distinct shopper personas that emerged in Thailand. 

1.    Festive enthusiasts (51%): These shoppers welcome personalization and plan MSD shopping on Meta’s platforms as part of their routine, with 75% of them buying gifts for themselves and 45% buying gifts for others. In addition, over 50% purchase new products and brands they discovered on Meta platforms. 

2.    Prudent shopaholics (21%): These shoppers enjoy soaking up the MSD experience and value the flexibility to “buy now, pay later” in order to spread out the cost of their purchases. Over 80% agree that they specifically look for sales and bargains during Mega Sales seasons, with 78% of Thai shoppers being driven to participate in MSDs specifically by prices and discounts.

3.    Influencer followers (15%): These are impulsive shoppers who value creator recommendations or personalized creator content to help them make a purchase. Over 70% of them are open to new brands or participate in MSDs based on influencer or social media promotions, with an overwhelming 97% of Thai shoppers trying a new brand based on an influencer’s recommendation.

4.    Savvy shoppers (14%): These shoppers are highly involved and seek out quality. They are detail-oriented and the majority extensively research products, exclusive items, and discounts to get the best value deals during MSDs. 

So what does this mean for Thai businesses and leading marketers?

During the dynamic and competitive time of Mega Sales Day seasons, businesses are seeking greater efficiency for their marketing budgets. This makes performance critical as businesses and marketers need to ensure that every dollar invested results in sales. 

Here are three simple strategies that can help Thai businesses and marketers maximize their performance during the upcoming Mega Sales Season this year and beyond. 

1.    Start building early: Build enthusiasm by announcing promotions early or launching new products to gain momentum in the lead-up to the sale. As the study shows 51% of seasonal shoppers shop early during sales. 

2.    Partner with creators: Collaborate with creators who align with your brand values and leverage co-branded marketing channels to spread the word.

3.    Personalize at scale: With key segments in mind, increase your target audience by looking for new customers. Tap into automation, machine learning, and business messaging to find the right audience at the right time and at the best price. The study proves that advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) technology and increased ad supply are paving the way for peak seasonal success on Meta. Through the use of AI-powered marketing solutions from last year’s Cyber Week, the study shows that marketing campaigns run on Meta platforms resulted in an over 20% increase in conversions, over 23% increase in ad impressions, and a 22% decrease in average price per ad. 

Prae Dumrongmongcolgul, Country Director of Facebook Thailand for Meta, shared how businesses have a big opportunity this year to use AI to build powerful connections with the growing ranks of Asia’s and Thailand’s mega sale shoppers: “Just as shoppers are planning early, marketers need to do the same if they are to offer customers value and remain competitive in a tight market. With our suite of marketing tools like Meta Advantage (i.e., Advantage Shopping Campaign) and AI working at scale on our platforms, we can help advertisers plan ahead of Mega Sales shopping seasons and boost efficiency in terms of sale conversions and price per ad reduction.”